Hawaii is the most isolated chain of islands in the world and contains around 80% of the coral reef under US jurisdiction. About 25% of the coral species and 24% of the fish found in Hawaii's waters are endemic to Hawaii, and cannot be found anywhere else in the world (from "Pacific Whale" website).
This website will begin with a background of the coral reef ecosystems and keystone species that make these ecosystems possible ("Background I..." and "Background II...), then focus on the effects of ocean acidification on coral ("Climatic Threat to Coral Reefs I...") and of oceanic warming on coral ("Climatic Threat to Coral Reefs II..."). Ocean acidification and oceanic warming are independent but correlative phenomena, so although they are treated separately here, keep in mind that they complement each other. Using what will be established on ocean acidification and warming, we will predict the future of the Hawaiian coral reefs ("Predictions..."). Lastly, we will discuss the importance of the coral reef ecosystems in terms of Economy and Culture ("Why We Should Care...").
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| Original Diagram - will be explained in "Predictions" tab |
Hey David,
ReplyDeleteNice job on this blog. You seemed well educated on this topic. Because you have a lot of information and your topic has a wide scope, you should put more headings and maybe list some of your information into a bullet style, so reader can easy identify what is important. You might want to make a page that brings all your topics together and summarize the main points.
David,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the tone your blog took to make the information reach out to the reader. The figures and photos included complimented the information well. Integrating the photos and graphs into subheadings that aligned with sections of text specific to them would help ease the reader through each page. I also was wondering which figure was your own unique figure? Great job!
Hi David,
ReplyDelete- Great job overall - nice pictures, good information, etc.
- One suggestion. I think the ultimate goal of your website is the latter couple of tabs - i.e. impacts (ocean acidification & bleaching) on the coral reefs. I wonder if the flow of the website would work a bit better if you did two things: first, related everything back to that main theme. For example, in the tabs where you explain diversity (rainforests of the sea) and physiology (coral anatomy), make sure you explain that climate change is a problem b/c we will loose a lot of diversity - and perhaps explain the physiology in light of climate change impacts (what renders these critters susceptible)?
Also, I might put the economy and culture tab last. Thinking about the flow - you have an intro (what is a coral reef, what is coral physiology) that lays out what coral reefs are and why they are susceptible to CC, Impacts tabs (OA and bleaching), a predictions tabs (what does it all mean for the future); and to me it could make sense to have the economy and culture tab last - sort of as a 'why should we care'.
On another note - if you want, you could consider consolidating some of these pages and giving them titles that link more directly to climate change. For example - your home page is great. Another page could be called "Background" (and include subheadings within that page "Rainforests of the Sea" and "Physiology: why coral reefs are susceptible to climate change"). A third page could be called "Threats to Coral Reefs" and include subheadings called "Ocean Acidification" and "Bleaching" as well as a summary tab called "The future of coral reefs" where you explain the combined impacts. A final page could be called "Why we should care" where you include the economy and culture, and maybe your own final thoughts on what we could do and why we should try to preserve coral reefs. Feel free to do whatever you like, but think about how to make the different pages link together.
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